At Fox, Huckabee goes from colleague to subject

In an instant, Mike Huckabee went from being a colleague to a source of intrigue at Fox News.

Huckabee announced Saturday that his Fox News program was over, effective immediately, amid growing speculation that he will launch a second bid for president. The reaction among the pundits and hosts he left behind has ranged from gracious to downright critical.

"Best of luck!" read an on-screen graphic on "Fox & Friends" the next morning.

But conservative radio host Laura Ingraham, a Fox News contributor, wasn't cheering him on. On "Fox News Sunday," Ingraham complimented Huckabee, saying he had a "great show," but she argued that he and his ideological peers would have been better-served had he run for U.S. Senate in Arkansas.

"The idea that Mike Huckabee is going to be president of the United States?" Ingraham said. "I mean, I'll predict that that's not going to happen."

"You'll know he's moved from exploring to running when it begins to shrink," Hume said on Twitter on Saturday night.

Hume added later that Huckabee slimmed down ahead of his 2008 run but not before the 2012 election, when he opted against a bid.

Huckabee told viewers that he won't decide whether or not to throw his hat in the 2016 ring until the late spring, but that he had agreed with Fox "that this is the right thing, and now is the right time."

The network, which has been a home for a number of prominent Republicans after leaving public office, has severed ties with its employees when they've taken serious steps toward a political candidacy, such as forming an exploratory committee.